By Kelly From:Gasgoo.com October 17, 2008

Shanghai, October 17 (Gasgoo.com) General Motors (GM) will introduce its EREV (extended range electric vehicle) Chevrolet Volt to China for production by 2011 to meet the Chinese market demand, Nanfang Daily reported, citing Bob Lutz, GM vice chairman of product development.

Bob Lutz said, Chinese elements were well considered in the design of Chevrolet Volt, which indicates the electric automobile has entered a new stage. And China will be a big market for electric vehicles.

It is reported that Chevrolet Volt, a plug-in series hybrid vehicle by GM, is expected to begin production in 2010.

The vehicle is designed to run purely on electricity from on-board batteries for up to 64km. With the use of a small internal combustion engine driving a generator to resupply the batteries, the vehicle’s range is potentially increased to 579km on the highway (and which can be extended for very long trips by conventional refueling).

Bob Lutz said that Volt, different from the traditional electric vehicles, surely will have a huge market as it solves customers’ concern about driving distance. But the low availability of electric auto parts for the car’s volume production will lead to high price of the first generation Volt.

Bob Lutz is confident about the prospects of the electric vehicles. He said GM has lagged behind Toyota which has promoted its hybrids like Prius for several years. GM sees it unacceptable to lose the first. The world’s biggest auto maker is making efforts to develop vehicles without using gas from now on.

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General Motors Corp.’s new electric car is two years away, but already two Ohio companies are working to make the Chevrolet Volt better.

GM has said when the Volt arrives in late 2010, a lithium ion battery will power it up to 40 miles per charge. In Cedarville, Applied Sciences Inc. and co-owned Pyrograf Products Inc. want to see if that range can be doubled.

Applied Sciences spokesman John Mackay tells the Dayton Daily News the company seeks to replace some of the three pounds of carbon in the battery with tiny carbon fibers. He says a lighter battery would perform better.

Mackay says Pyrograf is the world’s No. 3 carbon nanofiber supplier and in a strong position to supply them for the Volt.

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The much-anticipated Chevrolet Volt extended range electric vehicle has made one of its first global appearances at the Australian International Motor Show in Sydney.

Volt, to be launched in the US in 2010, uses electricity to move the wheels at all times and speeds in a significant advance from conventional hybrids.

When operating solely on its battery, Volt can drive up to 64 kilometres without petrol or producing exhaust pipe emissions. Once the battery’s energy is depleted, a small petrol engine generates electricity to power the vehicle for hundreds of additional kilometres.

Volt is an important element of General Motors’ strategy to provide a range of sustainable transport solutions to meet the current and future needs of motorists. GM estimates that compared to similar sized petrol-powered vehicles, Volt will save motorists up to 1892 litres of fuel a year. This is based on US research that identifies 75 per cent of commuters travel an average daily distance of less than 40 miles (64 kilometres).

It also calculates that charging the vehicle at night through a standard power outlet will use less electricity annually than an average household refrigerator. GM Holden Chairman and Managing Director Mark Reuss said Volt’s Sydney reveal gave Australian audiences an early view of one of the most important technologies shaping the future of sustainable transport.

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A $136 million tax abatement to help persuade General Motors Corp. to build the Chevrolet Volt extended-range electric car at the Detroit/Hamtramck Assembly Plant won approval today from the Detroit City Council.

The abatement, which lasts 25 years, clears a hurdle toward GM’s proposed $336 million investment in the plant, which employs 1,944 people.

The council approved the measure on a 7-1 vote. Only Councilwoman JoAnn Watson voted no.

Even with the tax break, the company would still generate an additional $4.6 million a year in tax revenue for the city and Detroit Public Schools, said Irvin Corley Jr., the council’s fiscal analyst.

“As many jobs as we can get in the City of Detroit, I’m happy to keep,” Councilwoman Barbara-Rose Collins said. “These are terrible times.”

Watson said she voted no because the Detroit Three automakers are on the verge of receiving $25 billion in federal loans to aid them, and giving GM a tax break now doesn’t sit well with her.
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September 26, 2008 - General Motors is preparing to introduce its Chevrolet Volt electric car in Thailand by 2011 as part of its global strategy to offer more energy-saving and environmentally friendly models.

The electric car is symbolic of the future of GM, said Khanchit Chaisupho, director for Asean public policy and government relations.

The Volt is due to go on sale in the United States in 2010, with prices ranging from US$20,000 to $30,000 a unit.

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General Motors Corp. has reached agreement with the California Air Resources Board that could result in the Chevrolet Volt range-extended electric vehicle receiving a 100 mpg fuel economy rating from the EPA, the company said.

GM spokesman Dee Allen said the rating is far from set, stressing that what has been agreed to on a preliminary basis is that the Volt would be classified as an extended-range electric vehicle for the purpose of fuel-economy ratings.

If that is made certain, he said, then the Volt, due out in November 2010, could would likely receive a rating of 100 miles per gallon or better.

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General Motors Corp. today announced it will invest $370 million in the United States to build a new manufacturing plant in Flint for its global 4-cylinder engines.

GM Chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner said the plant will begin production in 2010 and will be the exclusive manufacturing facility in North America to produce the Chevrolet Volt’s onboard generator.

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Construction of the Chevrolet Volt electric car would bring 550 jobs to the city, General Motors Corp. officials told a Detroit City Council committee today.

General Motors is seeking a $136 million tax abatement over 25 years to build the car at the Detroit/Hamtramck Assembly Plant.

“It’s important because it introduces new technology for General Motors,” said Blake Watkins, tax abatement manager for Detroit’s Planning and Development division. “The electric car is very big to their existence.

“We will be evolving this technology here involving the residents of the city of Detroit…. and moving GM’s technology forward, at the same time moving the city of Detroit forward,” Watkins said GM has proposed $336 million investment into the plant to build the car. The plant currently employs 1,944, he said.

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General Motors Corp. unit Adam Opel AG says it wants to put an electric car based on the technology of the Chevrolet Volt on the European market in 2011.

Opel managing director Hans Demant’s comments at the subsidiary’s main Ruesselsheim plant came as GM Chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner unveiled the Volt in the United States, where it is due in showrooms by late 2010.

The Volt will be able to go 40 miles (nearly 65 kilometers) on a single charge from a home outlet. The batteries will be recharged by a small gasoline engine that allows the car to travel hundreds more miles.

Source : Herald Tribune

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Two recurring strains of criticism surfaced amid all the hoopla over the Chevrolet Volt electric car last week:

• It’s too expensive. Nobody will buy it, and if anybody does, it’ll be rich dilettantes, not the working folks who really need to cut their gasoline bill.

• It doesn’t go far enough. It’s impractical for people who use one car for all their needs.

Neither complaint is correct, but the way the misinformation proliferated across the Internet demonstrates how different the Volt is from any car on the road today.

You can’t judge the Volt based on traditional criteria like sticker price and trunk room.

Don’t think of it solely as a car. It’s a lifestyle, a political view, a fashion statement and the coolest new gadget you can get.

If GM gets the Volt right, it’s the 1984 Apple Macintosh on wheels, smashing an old paradigm and setting America free. It’s Mini Cooper compact cool mated to Prius environmental chic.

It will also be a compact car likely to cost around $42,000 when it goes on sale, a premium small car with unique style and performance, like the $46,000 BMW 135i or $44,000 Audi A3.

And it may be the only game in town if you want the latest and greatest technology on wheels, a vehicle that says you’re smart, involved and want to thumb your noise at Big Oil and the despotic countries that produce it.

Why did people stand in line all night to pay $400 for an Apple iPhone last year when other companies literally give mobile phones away? Because it was unique. Because it was the best.

That’s one reason the Volt’s introductory price is immaterial. If the car keeps the promises GM has made — 40 miles on battery power alone, and the ability to drive unlimited distances by using its onboard generator — the first year’s production will sell out the weekend the Volt goes on sale.

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